According to the Wall Street Journal, LG will offering the Optimus L9 smartphone with T-Mobile's unlimited nationwide 4G data plan.

The South Korean handset maker unveiled the new smartphone this week, a day before MobileCon kicked off in San Diego. The smartphone runs on the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and boasts a 4.5-inch screen, dual-core mobile processor and forth-generation (4G) network capabilities.

In addition, the Optimus L9 handset features "QTranslator", software that automatically translates words and phrases in 64 languages. A 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 1080p HD video recording completes the package, although neither LG or T-Mobile have disclosed the pricing of the smartphone.

In order to try and claw back some of its falling marketshare, LG, once recognized for products including its designer Prada smartphone, has failed to come up to scratch against the innovative technology being developed by competitors in the same marketplace.

LG's partnership with T-Mobile may entice some consumers away from rival firms including Apple and Samsung, in order to take advantage of T-Mobile's unlimited 4G plan. However, it has a long way to go -- as research firm Strategy Analytics says its marketshare has fallen from 21 percent in 2009 to 14.2 percent in the first half of this year.

Charlie Osborne, a medical anthropologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, freelance photographer and former teacher.
She has spent years travelling and working across Europe and the Middle East as a teacher, and has been involved in the running of businesses ranging from media and events to B2B sales. Charli...
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